Spain: this is what happens when you close the schools

[Hopeisnotastrategy]

murciatoday.com/murcian_government_decrees_enforced_quarantine_of_a_guilas_san_pedro_san_javier_los_alca_zares_cartagena_la_unia_n_and_mazarra_n_1353560-a.html?fbclid=IwAR0iqy14FgcHMXspstqQKdALOm-xMVg5S9qkgIV4P8FC55gMNaPf750XlJA

Families leaving Madrid and heading for the coast are spreading the virus throughout the country. A week ago the province of Murcia was only getting its first case of coronavirus.

Update from Illinois
www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-coronavirus-pandemic-chicago-illinois-news-20200315-tn4rchjbazb73h6x2i4vz7v3xq-story.html
Restaurants, bars to close tomorrow, by order of the governor. Restaurants can do delivery, drive through and curbside pick up service.

There are 93 cases spread across 13 counties, some with no known connection to travelers.

The (Federal) CDC is recommending a ban on gatherings of more than 50 people nationwide.

Police monitoring overnight deliveries to supermarkets.

Chicago Public Schools will distribute free food packets to any child who turns up at any school looking for food.

"The time for persuasion and public appeals is over. The time for action is here. This is not a joke. No one is immune to this. And you have an obligation to act in the best interests of all the people of this state.” Governor J.B Pritzker.

Oh great. I live in an English holiday/second homes area with inadequate infrastructure, few large supermarkets & an underfunded council.

Sounds like where I live. Oh and retirement flats, but guess they'll be staying in.

But other countries are learning from these mistakes and escalating a lot faster. Last Thursday it was all normal in France, that evening they announced school closures, Saturday it was restaurant/bar/cinema closures, last night they released the first suggestion that they would confine people in their homes, an announcement is expected tomorrow. I suspect we will all be confined in our homes in the next two days.

@Booboostwo our chief scientist and medical officer are going to do an announcement today based on UK figures and environmental context. I have a friend in the Netherlands and he said that it feels a bit ad hoc there at the moment eg no clear strategy or plan. So let’s see our plan later and stop thinking others have a better one for our set of circumstances.

And don’t assume school closures are necessarily the next thing to do. It has caused mayhem in Spain France and Italy. The benefit of slowdown is not as big as other measures and indeed it can be counter productive with people moving across geographies and spreading it further plus grandparents being drafted in and then exposed to the virus. I was so happy to send my kids to school today. They also need to have a bit of normality in this crisis

French schools have been closed for a total of three hours and 22 minutes - no mayhem so far. We are doing school work at home, the teacher is on the online platform.

No mayhem in Spain either. It's not easy, but it's not mayhem.

I'm foresee that if British schools close down then the first thing that will happen is thousands of school age bratlets piling into the nearest MacDonalds and other junk food outlets.

They ain't going to sit at home reading 'improving books'!

If the uk follows the pattern of other countries when closing schools, everything else will be shut too.

@Booboostwo ah that’s funny. My french friend has literally just sent me a photo of all the kids together playing on balconies!

I'm foresee that if British schools close down then the first thing that will happen is thousands of school age bratlets piling into the nearest MacDonalds and other junk food outlets. Not if they close restaurants too.

In South Africa, schools will close from Wednesday the 18th. This is to give teachers time to set up remote schooling options or hand out paper-based work for those students with no access to online tools, and also to give working parents the chance to sort out childcare or make work-from-home arrangements with their employers. We are in deep dwang here - aside from the high percentage of immuno compromised people with HIV/AIDS and TB, the townships and informal settlements are not safe places for children to be on their own, especially if their parents have to go in to work to make sure everyone can eat! But most people seem to feel our president has acted well and decisively eg banning mass events, closing schools and declaring a state of emergency. I do feel that he takes this seriously, which is comforting.

@lobelia123 I mean time will tell and who knows. But I really worry that we are trying to protect the wrong demographic - the kids - when it is the older demographic we are trying to protect. The kids should stay safe in school. Learning and keeping some level of normality because the risk to them is extremely small. I do get the feeling that measures are being taken because of populist opinion and to make it look like governments are doing something, anything.

The UK government even ADMITTED that it closed mass gatherings because of media hysteria. Actually it won’t make a lot of difference to the spread because many people are outdoor. But it would cut down on the number of emergency services needed at them and won’t do any HARM as such. So they just rolled over and did it I fear to shut the critics up.

Bool I’m on the fence with schools fit the reasons you say.

What do you think about children bringing it home anyway?

So the difference is a family wfh to protect themselves or wfh person and school age children coming in

The closure of schools is not to protect young people per se, but is to encourage social distancing. It has to be done in conjunction with other methods eg closing cinemas, cafes, bars, mass gatherings etc.
When my dd’s School closed in China only the supermarkets and pharmacies were open: nothing to do, nowhere to go so you stay home. If you develop the virus your contacts are easy to trace: family members.

@marshabradyo I have no doubt it will be a lever at some point. Just not yet. I am sure the schools will close. I think they are wanting to protect the over 70s first before they do this. Let’s get them protected. Then if we need to close schools as a slow down leave in future (and remember they are already closing in 2 weeks anyway so that will also act as a brake) we will do. But the disruption closing schools brings in healthcare workers and grandparents looking after them and spreading it will have been factored in. I think. But am going to listen to the government today. But I am confident kids will be at school all week this week. And I am happy because my teenagers need the structure and normality.

@ShanghaiDiva agree. And yes think it will be used as a future lever.

Nobody is saying they WONT close in the uk. It will be a question of WHEN.

Fine continue exposing your kids to the virus and accept that 1-3 kids in every secondary school will die of it in the next 3 months (using governments own figures)

@bool The government are saying they will close schools at the peak of the infection i.e. when most people have already got it and too many staff are off sick to keep the schools open.

All how did you get to 1 out of 3?

The death rate isn’t that high under 20 is it?

Ignore me! 1 to 3

Still awful obvs. I’m either holding out to end of week or crumbling earlier.

The death rate isn’t that high under 20 is it?

It's round about zero.

Some of the scaremongering on these threads is appalling.